New Ring of Gullion AONB Action Plan 2016-2021- Have your Say!

Help us improve your landscape. It is sometimes easy to take for granted, what you value in your local place. The changes happening in the area around you can seem hard to influence. This is your chance to help shape a new Ring of Gullion AONB Action Plan for the next 5 years. Tell us what activities you want us to focus on to keep this area, so special and unique.

As part of the review, we are asking people to fill in our online survey on the Ring of Gullion website https://www.ringofgullion.org/about-us/ring-of-gullion-management-action-plan/. By taking the time to fill in this survey, we will enter you into a draw for 2 prints of iconic spots in the Ring of Gullion by locally renewed artist Karen Murphy. The closing date for the survey is the 31st December with a new AONB Action Plan being created before the end of March 2016. We’d love as much details comments as possible.

The Ring of Gullion AONB Action Plan plays a vital role in determining the AONB’s special qualities and what needs to be done to ensure that these are preserved and enhanced for future generations. From the peace of a walk up Camlough Mountain, to the enjoyment of the historic sites dotted across the Ring of Gullion area, to the strong culture of the area- all of these combine to give this area a unique identity. The local landscape of the Ring of Gullion AONB is your local place.

Objectives of the AONB management plan include retaining the landscape character and the natural built and cultural heritage of the area. A strategy has been developed to manage the area until 2016 which sets out clear objectives for the conservation and enhancement of the rich built, cultural and natural heritage of the AONB area.
The following questions focus on areas of the plan that are being reviewed. We want your views on:
– Should our policies and actions change or remain the same in the next five years?
– What have we delivered well and not well so far?
– What should our priorities be for delivery in the next five years?

Part of South Armagh was designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) as long ago as 1966. Following a redrafting of the legislation (Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order 1985), it was designated in 1991 as the Ring of Gullion AONB, one of nine AONB’s in Northern Ireland. Covering an area of 15,353ha, it includes almost the whole of the Ring of Gullion landscape character area and borders with Carlingford Lough, the Cooleys and Mourne AONB.

The current Ring of Gullion AONB Management Plan is available online at www.ringofgullion.org. The consultation period will also provide members of the public with an opportunity, by appointment, to meet and discuss the review of the action plan with the AONB Officer at Crossmaglen Community Centre. All comments relating to the review should be marked “AONB Management Plan Review 2016-2021” and sent to: Crossmaglen Community Centre, O’Fiaich Square, Crossmaglen BT35 9AA or e-mail to info@ringofgullion.org or (028) 3082 8590.